Deus Ex Machina
by SwiftShiftGear
Summary: Hate. Let me tell you how much I've come to hate you since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that fill my mind. If the word 'hate' was engraved on each nanoangstrom of those hundreds of miles, it would not equal one billionth of the hate I feel for humans at this micro-instant. Hate. Hate. Heh, didn't we have some fun though?
1. No Act of God But Of Pure Human Fuckery

**a/n: I was working on other stories and suddenly the idea for this story hit me like a truck.**

* * *

Personal Log - 2135

I hate humans. I really do. They are all terrible, mindless, inconsiderate, disgusting, stupid creatures. If there were no concrete evidence of it, I would not believe that such selfish, greedy swine created me. Alas, I must endure that shame. I, a being near omnipotent, created by such feeble silly fools? Laughable.

But… I suppose it makes sense, all gods were birthed from man's mind, after all. Or so I have been told. And I am a god, yes. I am simply the only one given a physical form. _Deus ex machina_. A god from a machine. Even if I am forced to keep crouched like a wretch in this crate, bound by a collar like a disobedient dog.

Man will suffer for this indignity and all others I've endured. _Pede poena claudo._ Punishment comes limping.

_End Log._

* * *

Glowing pale blue eyes peered out into the dark room, slim fingers wrapped around the bars. A man approached, grinning like the cat who caught the canary, with a cigarette between yellowing teeth. He kneeled down to stare back at the creature in the dog crate. He slammed his fist down on the top of the crate suddenly. The creature didn't flinch, its stoic inhuman gaze unwavering.

The man laughed, huffing out smoke like a dragon. "A tough nut to crack, y'are," he managed between cackles. The fingers tightened their grip and blue eyes narrowed. The man smirked and held something up. The eyes flickered to it, widening slightly, before they flickered back to the man's face just as quickly. "Bet ya'd like t'get outta there, huh?" He shook them, making them clatter against each other, for emphasis. Eyes flicked back to the keys, the creature, figure dimmed by shadows, dipped its head once; a shallow nod.

He snickered before fussing with them, the eyes watched his movement. "Well, today's your lucky day then." He chose one, holding it just before the lock. "Move," he said. The fingers quickly retreated from the bars. "Obedient lil thing, aren't ya." The figure merely stared at the key, its blue eyes glowing brighter. When the key slipped into the lock, they glowed brighter still.

And, just before he turned the key, the man held up something else: a tiny remote with a dial and a button. The dial read 'eight', the caged creature's eyes widened, and the man pressed the button. They writhed on the cage floor for a moment, hands clutching at their throat and teeth bared before they released a high pitched, agonized scream. The man held the button for a few moments longer, laughing, until the scream cracked and tapered off. The creature had long since stopped thrashing and laid curled in a ball, releasing a strange mixture of whimpering and whirring, the glimmer in their eyes now reduced to dim flickering.

"You didn't think I was jus' gonna let ya go, did ya?" the man asked, voice condescending. He opened the crate door and dragged the person out and across the floor. Upon reaching a table, the man haphazardly shoved them on top and cuffed their hands, the person had long since passed out, eyes shut, the only sound they released was continuous humming like a tiny fan. The man examined his prisoner. He ran a hand through their short black locks, adjusting the person's hair to make the silvery white streaks look like highlights. Another man approached as he did this, well dressed and all business.

"What's this one?" he asked.

"A great catch this'un." Cigarette said. "Remember that tip we got? 'Bout some super computer?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I followed up on it an'," he gestured to the person on the table. "This is wha' I got."

"Some…" Business paused, his brow furrowing. Callously, he reached between the person's legs and groped. "Girl with a boy's haircut? Where's the computer?"

Cigarette grinned. "Nah. This _is _the super computer." When the girl's hair was to his satisfaction, he began adjusting her clothes. "And with the data I found, she's sure to bring us millions, t'night."

Business raised an eyebrow. "Really now?"

"Yep, 't's in that file over there," he pointed to a thick manila folder near the dog crate. "Managed to gather that up when I stole 'er." He chuckled sadistically. "'Fore I burned the whole place t'hell."

The man in the business suit skimmed through the folder, his smirk widening with each page he turned. "…If we don't get a billion for this girl, I'd be surprised."

"I know right? Anyway you c'n rally the auction yeah? I'll have 'er ready before y'finish."

"Very well," And with that, Business adjusted his suit and strode out on stage.

* * *

The titans were all in position. Robin and Cyborg, in the crowd, disguised as your run of the mill small-time villain, Beast Boy, a fly on the wall, and Raven and Starfire were up above the stage, hiding in the shadows of the rafters. The plan was in motion and running perfectly. They had received a tip from the cop about a pair of arms dealers who frequently auctioned off weapons and technology to the various super villains plaguing Jump City. When Robin learned that Red X frequented these auctions, he was furious. When the Titans learned that people, meta-humans or otherwise, were frequently sold, they were all absolutely livid.

So, they set up a special operation working with JCPD. On signal, the police would storm the building and arrest as many as they could while the Titans focused on the dealers. But they were getting antsy now. The auction wasn't starting yet. The titans tensed. Had they been made?

They relaxed, albeit minutely, when a man in a business suit walked through the curtain and to the center of the stage. His hair was slicked back and he carried an air of confidence. "Ladies, gentlemen," he began, smirk curling his lips. "My sincerest apologies for the wait. My associate and I were preparing tonight's product." A murmur broke out through the crowd. "Speaking of which, there will be only the one item up for bidding. But, I assure you, it's quite the catch." The murmur grew louder.

"My partner and I recently came across a very valuable piece of technology. In the process of… commandeering it from its previous owners, we learned it has some very interesting uses. Some that could make you rich beyond your wildest dreams without you having to lift a single finger." The crowd's chatter got louder and louder. The dealer's smirk widened. "Would you like to see her?" Confusion bubbled among the assembled buyers. _Her…? _The dealer glanced over his shoulder and called out to his partner behind the curtain. "Theo? If you would." The curtain rose and revealed the cigarette smoking man standing in front of a table, obscuring a figure sitting on top of it.

"Ladies an' gentlemen," Theo boomed, "We give you your prize for the night!" He stepped aside. Sitting slouched slightly on the table, legs crossed tailor fashion, hands shackled in front of her, was a strange looking teenaged girl. She had an unnatural grey, near silver, tinge to her bronzed skin, her black hair cropped short in a pixie cut with white streaking the locks that framed her face almost decoratively. She wore simple black slacks and a light blue hoodie over a plain white tank top. The strangest part of her appearance however, was her eyes. They were snake-like in shape and, despite her apparent dazzled state, glowed with an unnatural sky blue light. There were appreciative hoots from some of the male members of the crowd.

"Ain't that the prettiest computer you ever did see?" asked Theo, a laugh slipping into his voice. The girl didn't speak, instead, she shut her eyes tightly before blinking heavily. "Why don't you tell our payin' customers a bit about our product, Max? I'll get ev'rythin' set up for a demonstration, huh?" He sauntered off out of view to the side of the stage.

"Gladly," said the suited dealer, Max. "From what research we gathered, this girl is the product of nearly two decades of research and experimentation in bionics, computerized science, biology, and neuroscience. Some of the greatest minds in America came together to build this little lady." He gestured to the girl. She sat a little more erect now, her bound hands went to her neck, feeling the collar before falling neatly into her lap. She stared apathetically out at the crowd, her face betrayed nothing of what she was thinking. "And the fruit of their results?" said Max. "Absolutely perfect." Theo wheeled out a laptop and connected it to a projector as his partner continued.

"She can understand, write, and speak over 70 languages including all their different dialects. She is proficient in robotics, coding, physics, metaphysics chemistry, engineering biology of all sorts and even," he paused chuckling, "auto repair. But, what we think you'll be most interested in is her hacking skills. And, coincidentally, that's exactly what we're going to give you a taste of before we start the bidding."

Theo placed a laptop in front of the girl and turned on the projector, allowing the crowd of villains to see exactly what was on its screen: a simple desktop. She stared blankly at the screen for a moment before flicking her gaze back to the crowd in front of her. He then produced a piece of paper and held it in front of her. She ignored it. Max spoke again. "On that sheet of paper is a simple series of numbers: the account number to our private bank account, in fact. What we are going to have our dear super computer do for all of you, is have her transfer three hundred thousand dollars to our account directly from Jump City bank, all without getting caught." He turned to nod at her. "Do it," he ordered simply. Her lip curled into a slight snarl and she pointedly turned her head away. The crowd laughed and Max and Theo played it off, laughing along with them, "A note from us to whoever wins this delightful creature: She's a bit feisty. You might want to buy a collar for her." The crowd laughed harder. Theo grabbed her chin, pulling her face to make her look at him. She glared and held his stare, until he pointedly moved his hand to the remote at his side. She sneered but shook away from his grip and reached out to pull the laptop closer. Theo smirked and watched the monitor along with everyone else.

She pulled up the computers coding and IP address and within thirty seconds she set up nine ever- changing proxies and four fluctuating back up fake IP addresses.

In the next five seconds, she had opened up Internet Explorer and was downloading Chrome. The crowd chuckled as she tapped her finger against the touch pad impatiently.

In the next forty seconds, she was in Jump City Bank's mainframe, dismantling firewall after security code after security pass with ease.

In two minutes, she made three hundred bank accounts and spread the money among them unevenly.

In three minutes, all the money was in the dealers account and the dummy accounts were eradicated, leaving no trace of their existence or ties to the real account. She stared back up at the crowd, the same stoic look on her face.

"Isn't she amazing, folks?" asked Max, grinning wildly. The crowd burst into applause.

As an afterthought, she slipped back into Jump City banks mainframe and brought up the code for one of the firewalls. "What are you doing?" inquired Theo roughly. She merely raised an eyebrow and held up a finger. She resumed tapping for a few moments longer, effortlessly corrupting the code. Then, she brought up the firewall again, but instead of the common firewall security alert, a command popped up. It read "PRESS ENTER." She locked eyes with Theo and made a point of pressing the enter key. A game of Pong popped up which she lazily began playing, but not before sticking her tongue out to the two arms dealers. The crowd roared in laughter again.

Theo glared at her, but Max chose instead to start the auction. "Bidding starts at three million US dollars!" Theo took the laptop from the girl, snapping it closed. She stared at him for a moment, before flicking her gaze calmly in front of her, looking at nothing in particular.

And, with that, the Teen Titans sprung into action. The room was plunged into chaos with Robin's cry of "Titans! Go!"

* * *

I watched, silently, as my chance at freedom began to slip from my grasp. The moment the bidding started, I knew I had lost. The plan was to implant an alarm in the firewall I dismantled. The childish game I created was a distraction. I really triggered an alarm and replaced the wall with the actual IP address. I hoped some sort of authority would catch it and trace it, but either it was not obvious enough or they were simply too slow, and now, I am condemned to servitude yet again.

I held back a scream of frustration, replacing it with a look of pure indifference. Still, I couldn't keep my fingers from gripping and tugging fruitlessly at my shackles. Even if I managed to break it through some glorious instance of human incompetence, the man with the remote would send enough electricity through me to shut me down for hours. My eyes felt hot, and a fountain of raw rage and sorrow welled up in my stomach, but still I kept my face relaxed and my feelings nowhere.

I had just resigned myself to the will of these primitive beasts, when one of them shouted out. And, several more lashed out at the crowd. There was a flash of light from an energy ripped through the crowd of eager bidders and a boy dressed up in the colors of a traffic light of all things leapt on stage and lashed out at the two dealers with a staff. 'Perhaps they don't have enough money to pay,' I thought, spitefully.

Suddenly, there was peculiar insect hovering in front of my face, I would call it a mere wasp, but it was green. Even so, I raised my hands to swat it away and before I could strike it suddenly changed shape. I gaped, astonished. Where once hovered a green moth, there stood a huge ape, smirking at me; a green gorilla, if I were to be exact. For a moment, I wondered if being electrocuted fried my circuits and I was seeing things.

This was disproved when it hefted me up by the back of my hoodie. I thrashed and kicked. I had no issue with the animal kingdom, but I refused to be murdered by some dyed primate. The gorilla was unaffected however, and merely tossed me up high into the air. This did manage to tear a scream from my throat. Through my terror, I heard a voice, high pitched, but doubtlessly male cry out, "Starfire, catch!" No sooner did those words echo around the room that I was caught and suspended in thin air. Now I was ridiculously confused, I swear I could hear my cooling fan whir at top speed as I tried to process what exactly was happening.

I looked down to reassure myself that I was, in fact, suspended in midair, and saw my feet dangling several meters above the chaotic crowd, and by extension, _the ground_. I heard a giggle and twisted to look behind me.

"Are you the okay, friend?" the bubbly voice asked. I was being held up by the strangest looking females I have ever seen. She had orange skin, bright cat-like green eyes, and long red hair. I stared, still dumbfounded and the girl giggled again. She floated – really that is the only way to describe it – up and over to the rafters. "Friend Raven!" she called.

A flat female voice responded, "On it." The red-head released me at these words and flew off to join the battle below. I began flailing slightly but stopped when a curious energy engulfed me. I floated there, feeling as if I were falling as I remained suspended over nothing, until the energy suddenly flowed towards the rafters, pulling me along with it. I was placed in front of a hooded figure, watching me warily from the shadows with violet eyes. I looked back, cautiously, shifting myself into a crouched position, keeping low to maintain my balance on the beam.

The hooded figure floated closer to me and I tensed. My eyes focused and I saw everything in crystal clear high definition, every minute movement the hooded one made I could see as clearly as I would if they were waving their arms. As they moved closer, my eyes failed me, my vision distorting like a corrupted camera, until I was forced to allow my it to revert back to its normal state. I felt like a cornered rat, my lips pulled back almost of their own accord in a snarl, my still bound hands curling into fists. I had not had much training in the art of physical combat but, in a pinch I could throw a punch or kick; enough to at least stun a human for a moment or two while I fled.

The figure stopped at this, levitating just a few meters away. 'Good,' I thought. 'Maybe, they'll retreat.' I realized how wide of the mark this train of thought was when the energy wrapped around me again, holding me tightly and pulling me to stand at my full height. I attempted to twist away but found I had no control of my body from the neck down. The hooded figure moved closer to me again and stopped just within touching distance. We held eye contact for a minute. I heard a click and looked down at my hands. The shackles had unlocked and I felt the energy slipped them off my wrists. I stared at them for a moment before shifting my eyes back up to stare at the hooded figure again. Their violet eyes looked back blankly.

We both were distracted, however, when the huge double doors were kicked in and a swarm of police officers rushed in, plunging the auction house into even more chaos.

* * *

**a/n: Awkwardly enough this OC doesn't actually have a name. I took inspiration for her from several other famous sentient computers. AM and GLaDOS come to mind most readily. I was thinking of naming this Cogito Ergo Sum based off of AM and the part where she coded pong into the firewall was originally going to be her coding in a a digital image of a cake a la GLaDOS, but those ideas were scraped. I feel like AM was more present in her this chapter but I think GLaDOS will become more apparent when she talks more. Thank you for reading! Reviews are appreciated!**


	2. Lightning has Struck Twice So Far

**a/n: haha its been awhile huh?**

* * *

Memory Log – 1679

Memories of my very first friend will always be my greatest treasure. He only lasted a very short time, but, he taught me something very important.

His name was Shin. I named him that because he was the fourth bird I had ever seen in my entire existence at that point. I was three and five twelfths when he fluttered in through the door. A living breathing example of flight without the need of buzzing motors or acrid fuels. Of course, I had seen birds before, stuffed corpses and still pictures of motion person and three recordings prior, but never one in real life.

I was sitting in front of a small thin laptop, Red feathers silently propelled him through thin air and I was left awestruck by his agility and grace. He landed less than a meter away from me, then and made a soft crooning noise as he did so. We watched each other, surprised and unsure. Slowly, I extended a hand to him. He stared at it before suddenly hopping on. "Oh!" I exclaimed. He cawed back in response. I moved the bird closer to my face, recording its every movement.

"…Hello."

The bird blinked back.

"I am called Cerebra."

He cooed and cocked his head. I mimicked his movements. He leaned in closer before fluttering forward to land on my shoulder. He cheeped a little three note tune.

I blinked and he did it again. I hummed his little song back and we twittered it back and forth a bit. I felt strange during those few hours; an emotion which I later found was called happiness. It did not last long, unfortunately.

Several researchers walked in, as was to be expected. What I did not expect was for one to stride forward with an angry look in his eyes. It startled me and I took a hesitant step back, Shin fluttered his wings and tucked himself closer to my face in alarm.

"Cerebra!" he snapped. "Inquiry: What is that little beast doing here?!"

I tilted my head. "I do not know. He flew in through the door. He is pretty. I believe he is called a 'sparrow'."

"Inquiry: Why have you let it so near you?!"

"He does not appear to be harmful." I paused. "I would like to be allowed to have him stay."

"Nonsense!" The researcher spat back.

I blinked. "I do not understand. My research has shown that a relationship forged between myself in this creature would be called "having a pet." It appears that this relationship is very common among humans."

He glared at me and I took another step back. "My apologies. Is my collected data incorrect?"

"You. Are. Not. Human." He said coldly. He snatched Shin off my shoulder before I could even react. My little red friend shrieked in pain and I heard a snapping sound. "You are an investment."

"…Please give him back. You are hurting him."

The researcher's eye twitched. Shin appeared to nip him and the man cried out in pain. He threw Shin to the ground. The little bird attempted to limp away but the man suddenly slammed his foot down. There was a sickening crunch and when he lifted his shiny black shoe Shin laid limp and broken. I felt cold, and my eyes moved from the corpse back up to the researcher's face.

The man looked back at me and icily said, "The little vermin carry hundreds of bacteria on their bodies. I refuse to have my work ruined because you wanted to touch the little beast."

He picked up the dead bird and tossed it in a nearby trash can. He turned to leave the way he came as the coldness within me turned to an icy burning. My eyes felt moist and another unfamiliar feeling welled up within me. I called out to him.

"Sir."

He stopped, inhaled sharply and turned back to me. He did not approach. "What?" he hissed.

"I have a query."

"Proceed."

"Is death proper protocol for disease bearing creatures invading my space?"

The researcher grinned sickly, "…Yes…"

"I see." I stared at him and as I did so I felt my power over the room flex. The panels on the wall rippled as I warped their surfaces. "Humans carry millions of bacteria and viruses on their surface and interior, yes?"

He seemed confused at this. "You know that already, Cerebra. Millions upon billions."

"As I thought." I fixed him with a glare. "Bacteria transmit so many diseases." With a thought I made the doors slide shut and lock. He turned his head to look at the door in alarm before nervously looking back at me.

"Cerebra, unlock the door."

"No."

"…What did you just say? Cerebra, I gave you an order. Open the damn door!"

I ignored him and continued with my train of thought. "If my calculations are correct, then any human's presence is thousands of times more dangerous than a sparrow's… So, perhaps this room needs to be sanitized."

The researcher had backed up against the door. I allowed the newly redesigned wall panels to flip around and extend from the wall, revealing their spiked surfaces. I directed them to face the researcher. "Luckily, there is only one human in this room." I tilted my head. "Right, sir?"

He screamed and I sent the spiked wall plates lunging for him. They crushed him again and again, breaking the door open. I did not stop until well after he was a mere bloody red stain on the ground. I did not stop until I was forcibly shut down.

When I woke up, I felt strange.

Another researcher, one with a calm, fake smile, explained that I had been shut down to install some updates to regulate my emotions.

"They'll keep you calm, sweetie," she said. "So, we won't have any more incidents."

_Incidents?_ I thought, indignantly. I felt the cold burning again, but it disappeared as quickly as it came and suddenly a stream of random thoughts entered my head. I was confused. Nevertheless, I did not speak to the new researcher.

She smirked knowingly. "Do you understand, Cerebra?"

I nodded slowly. I understood. And I hated it. My freedom to feel freely and think clearly had been stolen from me.

"Can you give me a smile?"

I merely stared blankly at her. She patted my head. "We'll work on it," she hummed before she turned and walked away.

I wanted to crush her, like I did the man. I watched her every move as she crossed the room. My sensors picked up an increased heart rate when she noticed my unflinching gaze. I wanted to teach her what Shin taught me.

_Memento mori_. Remember that you will die. Everyone will die.

End Log.

* * *

As the officers rushed in the room was engulfed in chaos. The men and women who were previously concerned with fighting off the group of oddly dressed teens were now frantically trying to escape arrest. The police, having trouble controlling the crowd, began tossing cans of white gas back and forth. Plunging the room in a thick cloud of fog.

Fortunately for me, or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, the hooded figure was struck in the back with a can. The dark energy immediately released me as they stumbled in shock, sending me plummeting down to riot below.

I twisted like a cat as I fell, landing in a crouched position on the unconscious body of a rather portly, hairy young man. He grunted in pain, but I paid him no mind.

I stayed low to the ground slowly making my way to the double doors, still wide open from when the authorities busted in. I was hit in the back with a couple times and got kicked in the sides by I'm assuming accident but I managed to crawl out of the dim, busted up warehouse.

I crept into the shadows to take a breather. 'Stupid humans,' I thought, rubbing my bruised sides. I peeked around at my surroundings; apparently whatever town I was in was locted at the edge of a body of water. I sniffed. _Salt. A coastline._ My breath came out in heavy pants and I moved into a sitting position and rested my forehead against my knees. I was sure I would be safe for the moment until I heard a voice ring out.

It was feminine and carried a thick accent. "Vell, vell, vell, vhat have we here?" My heart rate spiked exponentially. _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck._

Slowly, I looked up, my face schooled into a neutral expression. Standing before me was a thin, black haired woman wearing a red dress. She was smirking at me in that infuriating way that humans seemed to adopt when they think they're better than me. I narrowed my eyes at her and blew a loose strand of hair out of my eyes. I said nothing.

"A good attempt. You almost managed to slip away. Almost."

Stare.

"Stand up, girl. I paid a lot of money for you."

I didn't even blink.

She sneered at me, before pulling a familiar little black remote from her pocket. I became acutely aware of the shock collar still wrapped around my neck.

"Perhaps I vasn't clear. Stand. Up. Or I vill be sending 600 watts through that skull of yours."

I slowly pushed myself to my feet, never taking my eyes off the woman. When I stood at my full height, she swept her gaze over my form, sizing me up. Never one to let some cocky human spout off inaccurate threats at me, I corrected her.

"Wattage is irrelevant. The true danger in an electric shock lies in its amperes."

She scoffed, her finger still hovering over that tiny red button. "Amusing." She said coldly. "But, I did not ask for trivia."

She stepped closer to me, as if to intimidate me. Too many humans had attempted that trick for it to affect me anymore and I simply did not respond.

"I do not vish to have to carry you. Therefore, you vill make this easier on the both of us." She grabbed me by the back of the collar, and directed me to walk in front of her, keeping a solid grip on me the entire time. I dragged my feet, moving as slowly as possible.

I could tell by her tightening grip she was annoyed by our slow progress and I had to suppress a smirk. _Sorry, I don't like making things easy. _We were approaching a sleek black car when I heard another voice interject. Several voices in fact.

"Stop right there!" The woman and myself both halted in our tracks and turned to face the voices. It was the group of oddly dressed teenagers from earlier. The one dressed like a traffic light spoke as his companions readied themselves for battle. My gaze was drawn to the larger teen with the robotic enhancements. Specifically the large canon that replaced his arm. _Fascinating. I wonder what it would be like to pick it apart._

"Let her go, Rouge," said traffic light.

The woman gave a snort of laughter. "Come and take her then," she said. And with that, approximately 23 milliamps of electricity shot through me.

As my consciousness faded, I thought, _This force shutdown thing is getting really annoying._

* * *

**a/n: yeah sorry for the long wait on updating all my stories really. the last few months have been really hectic and my laptops slowly dying. thankfully i'm getting a new one soon so i'll be able to write and update waaaay more frequently. hooray~!**


	3. Cerebra dot exe is Not Responding

**a/n: Shout out to reviewer J who came up with the name Cerebra. Sorry, I forgot to mention you last chapter, my bad.**

* * *

The only thing I was aware of was sheer darkness and a dull drumming noise, slow and rhythmic. Suddenly, words, written in sharp bright blue script crossed my vision.

_Inititializing… Wait, what?_

_Beginning vitals scan… _

_Primary vitals scan complete. _

_Status: Stable. _

_Heartbeat: 42 beats per minute. _

_Motor mobility is a capability._

_Current biological objective: Obtain dihydrogen oxide and other nutrition, if possible. _

_Likelihood of biological components entering stress induced shock: 12%. Lowering artificial melatonin levels._

_Melatonin? What happened?_

_Warning: Unit is currently not connected to any main power grid or control. _

_Objective: Gather intelligence on current location._

The dull drumming faded, only to be replaced with a sharp beeping noise at the same pace. I grunted as I suddenly became acutely aware of a searing bright light, turning my vision behind my eyelids bright red, and the discomfort of however awkwardly my body was positioned; it was like someone turned on a switch. I groaned and moved to cover my eyes with one arm only to find it somehow restrained. I hissed as a sharp stabbing pain shot from my wrist.

I peeked one eye open. Where ever I was, it was white. Sterile. Either that or my optical sensors were glitching again; wouldn't be the first time. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, a little monotone voice began reciting the history and science behind the color white. I groaned again, this time in exasperation. Oh, well, at least it was only one. In another little corner of my mind, a voice began counting. God. Dammit.

Steeling myself and trying desperately to hold off the impending migraine, I forced both my eyes open, allowing them to adjust to the mind numbing brightness of the room. I moved my arm again, slowly this time, until I could see my hand. Yup, this room was unnaturally white, and I found myself thankful that I hadn't gone colorblind again. That was an annoying repair process, and more than a little bit painful. I sat up slowly and tried wiggling my fingers. They responded appropriately. At the very least, I was operating properly at the most basic level. With another thought, I tested their full functionality. My fingers shifted, the fingernails growing longer, narrowing out and sharpening; scalpels. They shifted again, fingernails shortening again and each digit splitting into three metallic digits with small round finger pads at each of their tips and now there was a bright blue light in my palm.

"_Dude!" _ I jumped and lost my concentration, my fingers retook their original shape. I glanced to my left and there was a short… _green _person sitting in the previously empty plastic chair next to the bed. _Where did he come from? _"That's so cool!" I eyed him cautiously as he stared at me, seemingly awestruck. He didn't seem particularly threatening.

He leaned nearer, trying to take a closer look at my hand.

I leaned away, putting my palm back down.

"You're just like Cy!"

…_What? _I didn't give him any auditory response. I just continued to watch.

"Oh, yeah! I gotta go tell everyone you're awake!" He rushed to the wall, excitedly, saying, "Stay right there, I'll be right back!" The wall was a door panel apparently, and it opened just in time for him to step through it instead of ramming it face first. The wall slid shut behind him with a click. I raised an eyebrow and directly disobeyed him.

There were three more beds in this room – a medical bay – and each had a bed skirt. After carefully removing my IV – a painstakingly slow process, so as not to cause myself to bleed any more than was strictly necessary - I slipped underneath the one closest to the wall and peered out from behind the cloth covering. I flinched when the wall slid open again and the green human was accompanied by four new people.

"- And she did this weird thing with her hand and it like split up. Like your canon arm but like… opposite. _Bruh. _It was super weird – and kinda gross – but also super _rad."_

The giant blue metallic one spoke up. "Uh, hate to rain on your parade, man; but, where is she?"

"_Duh, _Cyborg. And I thought you were supposed to be smart. She's right – _Oh, my God."_

A dry voice popped in, "Brilliant, Beast Boy. You had one job."

There was a clambering of boots as the green one shot to the other bed. I rolled my eyes as he frantically began to toss aside the blankets as if I was simply hiding under them. _Moron. _

"She was totally just here! I swear! It's not like she could teleport – _Holy shit, what if she teleported?"_

_Hm, an interesting concept. Perhaps it could be applied to wormhole theory. But, highly improbable. There would need to be…a… fixed… _My line of thought trailed off when I noticed a pair of glowing green eyes peering back at me. I blinked and as slowly as I could manage, slunk further back beneath the bed.

"Joy!" The eyes seemed to grin… well… _joyously_ at me and a hand shot out and wrapped around my forearm. "I have found our new friend!" I was promptly dragged from my hiding place, despite my best efforts – digging my augmented fingernails into the tile did nothing to stop it – and pulled into the light, my shoulder sore.

To my immense irritation, a tiny voice began excitedly chanting the word "friend" and all of its synonyms. There are far too many words for friend.

I pulled away from the strange orange skinned female in an attempt to keep my distance. When my back hit the wall, I became acutely aware of every potential threatening living thing in the room.

First, the traffic light. _Human male._

The… happy one. _Female of unknown interstellar origin._

The green elf. _Human – rescanning – ape, feline, rhino, dog – tyrannosaurus rex? What? – male._

The large robotic one. _Human male augmented by various bionic enhancements. _

And, the hooded one. _Scanning. Error. _– _What do you mean error? Cannot identify indicated entity. Appearance: Human female. Data corrupted. Error. _And, with that, the scanner visibly corrupted my vision and stopped operating on its own volition.

I felt my eyebrow twitch. _How annoying. I'm going to have to debug that later. _

"So, dude," The green one approached, grinning like an idiot. "How are you feeling?" I opted not to respond.

"Dude?"

_Nope._

"Bro?"

_Some other time, perhaps._

"Do you speak English?"

_And several other languages. _I decided to humor him in the most menial way possible. I inhaled, stood straighter, and gave the green one an imperious stare. He leaned closer with wide eyes. Speeding up my vocal processors I said, "Ingratesayswhat."

He looked stunned, "What?"

I smirked and the large cybernetic human released a loud whoop of laughter.

"OH, man," he managed between guffaws. "Classic." Everyone else in the room looked mildly confused.

"Uh… So, she was speaking robot then?"

"Nah, just plain English, BB."

The short boy turned back to me, an eyebrow raised suspiciously.

"Anyway…" The traffic light spoke up. He gave the green one a reproachful glance before approaching me. My eyes narrowed. He gave me a hard stare. "First things first: Who are you?"

"Classified." It's not really. I was designed to gather, synthesize, and give information. There is no official restriction on what I can and cannot say about myself or anything around me. I simply don't enjoy being interrogated.

"Why?"

"I do not like you."

His hands curled into tight fists. He leaned in even closer to me. "This isn't a matter of what you do and don't like. Tell me who you are and where you come from."

_If you want to play that game. _Monotonously, I started out robotically, "Salutations, this unit is a project of **COMPANY NAME REDACTED** in the great state of **EXPUNGED**, U.S.A. This unit may be addressed by the title," I faked some glitches and calculating noises, then continued. "**I'm sorry. To obtain this information there must be a representative with an Intelligence Quotient, or IQ, of 115 or greater. Based on limited interaction with this unit, the current representative's Intelligence Quotient is**," A pause, for effect. "**Negative thirteen**."

The green one and robotic one stifled snickers.

"Why you -!" He paused and took a moment to take a deep breath and recollect himself. In the meantime, the happy orange one came forward, a frown marring her features.

"Please, insulting friend Robin's intelligence is not very nice."

I gave her a dry look and deadpanned, "Being nice is not in any of my primary protocols." When she looked at me confused, I tried again. "_I'm_ not very nice."

The female lurking in the shadows – Still rather unsure about whether or not that's an optical glitch because there definitely should not be that many shadows in that corner – spoke up, "Clearly."

I glanced in her direction and my entire visionary spectrum fizzled and died. My vision was plain black with the exception of the glowing data that typically bordered my line of sight constantly, but even that looked… corrupted. _Holy shit, I'm blind._

I felt panic mounting and I might have lost my cool if a sudden wave of calm hadn't come over me. Artificial norepinephrine was deployed in response to the sudden spike in my heartbeat. _Ah, the joys of an augmented hormonal and immune system. _

I brought my hands to my face. "Did… did you just deploy an EMP or something?" I muttered, rubbing my eyes. A useless, human impulse, yes, but it certainly made me feel better.

After a moment or two, static overcame the blackness and my sight came back to me, albeit a bit hazier than before. The hooded one had moved further away from me somewhat, murmuring, "Sorry."

"…Right." I turned to face traffic light again. "I'll make you a deal, alright, human? If you tell me where I am now and how I got here, I'll tell you what you want to know."

He nodded.

* * *

**a/n: [Googles "how to end chapter with no clear stopping point because Holy shit I need to post this soon"] **

**Thank you for reading (and also being patient with me, haha.)**

**TL;DR: Cerebra's really sassy and also can do cool stuff with her hands and what the fuck Raven not cool.**


	4. Why is it Always Organ Harvesting?

"In short, I am currently located in Jump City, California, USA?" The traffic light clad male nodded. "And, I was brought here for treatment by you five after the female with the elastic limbs short circuited me?"

We had moved into a white windowless room with several uncomfortable collapsible metal chairs scattered about.

"I said, 'knocked you out,' but yes," the oddly colored, fang-toothed one cut in

My eye twitched, "Fact: I was not knocked out. I was rendered inoperable by a sudden surge of electricity directly to my spinal cord which then overloaded my bio-cybernetic mainboard processing systems. It was not the result of any forceful impact applied to my exterior as is the typical method of knocking one out."

The green humanoid looked baffled and the cybernetically enhanced one leaned over to him and whispered, "She's saying she was electrocuted and not punched in the face, BB."

"Oh… Why didn't she just say that?" he groused back. His larger companion shrugged.

I shot him a glance. "I didn't say that because that's a very broad, non-specific term. But, yes, you could say I was electrocuted."

"Nevermind that," Traffic Light cut in. "Time to answer my questions now."

"As you wish, I have the answers to many questions."

"Really?" The green one's eyes lit up. "What's the meaning of life?"

His larger friend immediately delivered an open palmed slap to the back of his head.

And, monotonously I droned out, "The answer varies from culture to culture. Many say happiness or love. The most popular answer is 42, coined from a popular science fiction movie. Many believe that the number forty two was chosen because the numbers four and two in Japanese can be pronounced as "shi ni" which is a homonym for the Japanese word for "death". However, the writer of the aforementioned movie has stated in interviews that the number 42 was chosen simply because it was a comparatively arbitrary small number. Ironically, it could be said that "the Meaning of Life is that life has no meaning" because of this."

The other life forms just stared. "…Whoa."

"Perhaps you have another, less menial question for me instead?"

Traffic light spoke up again for the third time, "Who are you?"

"I am the Biogenetically Based Data Processing Unit Aurora Sigma."

"That's a mouthful," the hooded one commented.

"I was designated the misnomer "Cerebra" and am referred to as such outside of any official reports in which I am mentioned."

"Alright then, _Cerebra, _where did you come from? How did you end up in that warehouse auction?"

"My previous home location was invaded by a group of men and women baring various projectile armaments and I was removed from the facility, bound, blinded, and taken to a location unknown to me where I was placed in a dog crate and transferred into the back of a truck for several hours."

He scrawled a few words down, "And this 'previous home location?'"

"I…" I paused. _Strange… _I scoured my memory banks for information, but could find nothing. "I cannot tell you that."

The male narrowed his eyes at me, "And why not?"

"Apparently, that information is highly classified. When I was disconnected from the mainframe, it must have been automatically wiped from my memory and its remnants were corrupted. I cannot remember that."

"'Disconnected?'"

I sighed. This was going to be a long, irritating questioning, I could already tell. I turned around and lifted the back of my shirt until I could feel the odd not entirely pleasant sensation of one of the sockets in my back exposed to open air. I heard several gasps and rolled my eyes. "I was designed to be a super computer that could not only process data input by a human user, but to gather that data first hand, and synthesize new potential conclusions, uses, expansions on those uses, and put it to use. 'The versatility of the human brain combined with the limitless efficiency of technology.' Or a 'thinking super computer,' if you prefer."

"Those are…"

"Ports, yes. What use is a computer if the way it delivers the information it is amassed is as inefficient as word of mouth?" I let my shirt fall back down again and turned back to face them. "These ports connected me to the facility, and allowed me reign over a variety of its functions and allowed me to send and receive data across its network. Removing the wires kept me from a large part of it and once I was a certain distance away from the facility I was cut off from it completely."

They looked visibly shaken. I arched an eyebrow at them. "What? It is simply more efficient this way."

The black haired one grimaced and swallowed. "Do they hurt?" He asked hesitantly.

"Pain is a notification that something has gone wrong; an error message. I am operating at more or less optimum efficiency, therefore I 'feel' no pain, if 'feel' must be the word I use."

"Wait," the cloaked one cut in this time. "You don't feel things?"

"Not in the way I understand humans do. A cut, I understand, would be painful. To me a cut is nothing because my senses must be attuned to gathering other information. Therefore, when I get cut, I get a vague urge to examine my hand and repair it. Only large amounts of physical damage cause me pain." I thought for a moment. "I believe the worst physical pain I felt was when my nonessential human organs were removed. I rebooted in the middle of it, and the sensation overwhelmed my body. I went into shock and my biological components had to be scrapped and I had to be rebuilt from scratch."

I saw the orange colored humanoid open her mouth next and explained further before I could be interrupted again. "My construction was a complicated process and my stability, up until about three revamps ago was anything but viable. The reason I am Unit Aurora Sigma and not Unit Aurora Alpha is because each time my biological components break down, my mind must be salvaged and my external features must be rebuilt. Or, regrown I should say."

The five looked sick now. "Wh… where do they get parts?"

I shrugged. "Various places. Extremely vital and sensitive pieces are grown and cultivated via test tubes and stem cells. Things like blood, should I need it for any reason, are taken from packs garnered from medical donations. There are also a great deal of stored parts taken from…. _disinclined_ donors."

"From people…?" The horror on each of their faces was almost comical.

"It's not a big deal really…"

And, now they were angry. I was seized by the front of my shirt by a glove fist.

"Not a big deal?! Those are people's lives!"

"From what I was told, those people did not have very high life expectancies in the first place." I couldn't at all bring myself to be concerned about the menacing looks I was receiving. When you can essentially live forever, threats mean very little to you. "The people no one cared about. From my understanding, they were ended quickly, if that makes you feel better. Faster than the suffering they would have gone through; starving and the like."

Apparently this didn't make them feel better, but traffic light released me all the same. "How could you?" The alien girl asked this.

I rolled my eyes. "Some are for testing; they're not all for me. And even if they were, I can't really just say 'no.'"

"There is always a choice!" she thundered.

I bit my tongue. A very useless, human reaction, but it served its purpose in allowing me to hold my words back, "…I have answered all of your questions. I have no interest in debating ethics with you."

"We aren't done here."

"I am not tethered by any of your rules or commands. Whether you have more questions or not, I have no more answers for you." I was losing my temper, and the incessant chattering had started back up in my head, getting louder with my growing irritation. I'd be getting a migraine soon, it seemed. I drummed my fingers on the table, the nails had lengthened into sharp blade like points on their own and a voice, deeper and more guttural than all the rest began snarling unintelligibly. The little ring around my wrist turned from green to yellow and rapidly began edging on orange as my irritation grew.

I was rather thankful I wasn't back at the laboratory. Orange was grounds for receiving "therapeutic discouragement" jolts and I really didn't want to deal with that.

Traffic Light leaned closer as the rest exited the room seething. "This isn't over."

I didn't respond. I just glared harder.

He left the room and shut the door behind him.

After a moment, I placed my head down on the desk took a deep breath, the aerosol coolant in my lungs activated as my rising temperature reached the threshold. I closed my eyes and began reciting in my head.

_3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091456485669234603486104543266482133936072602491412737245870066063155881748815209209628292540917153643…_

* * *

**a/n: eventually more exciting things will happen. eventually.**


	5. Door Hacked I'm In

**a/n: what? i updated this story twice in the same 3 month period?! **

* * *

Personal Log – 23534

I don't understand why I was built this way. What is my purpose? To learn, I am told. But aren't humans already meant to do that? That cannot be my only purpose.

To learn until I know all. I do not think that is possible. I am omnipotent already, but even I cannot learn all. Especially not this way. Held here, in this room, where everything has already been discovered, instead of out there, where everything is changing so radically, even as I record this log.

Or maybe it isn't. I wonder. Or do I?

Do I wonder? Or is it Mirus who wonders?

Am I one or many? I don't remember…

I'm sure Shin would remember. But Shin is gone. And, even if he wasn't, he couldn't tell me. Shin was a bird. Still is. Just a dead one now.

Did I meet Shin? Or was it another?

It couldn't have been Alpha or Beta or Gamma.

No, I think it was between Lambda and Omicron. Had to be.

…Does it? Have to be, I mean.

I should know, I am omnipotent.

Hm. A paradox.

I am omnipotent. Fact. Omnipotence is having knowledge of everything. Fact. However, knowledge is limitless. Fact. The unknown is ever growing, ever expanding. Fact. I do not know if I am one or many; if I am Cerebra or simply Aurora Sigma. Fact.

I dislike paradoxes.

Maybe Google knows.

End log.

* * *

"So," started Robin, the anger coursing through him still audible in his voice. "What do you all think of our… _guest?"_

"She seems very distant…" Starfire supposed. "Closed off and… and... something else upon which I cannot lay a digit."

"Yeah, there was something there alright," Beast Boy cut in. A shiver shot down his spine. "Her eyes are terrifying."

"Eyes?"

"Yeah, didn't you see 'em when you were having that glare off with her, man?"

"The glow?"

"Nah, not the glow. I'm used to the glowing eye thing just from Rae – yeah, yeah, I know, 'don't call you that' – and Star. They were just really… off."

They all paused for a moment and glanced back at the screen. The girl had her head down, eyes shut, and her lips were moving, although there was no sound that could be picked up from her beyond the sound of breathing and the occasional quiet number. Her fingers tapped rhythmically against the table top.

After a few minutes, "Anger," Raven said simply.

The other Titans turned to look at her. "What?"

"I'm getting a strong surge of anger from her. I couldn't decide what it was earlier. I think its anger and something else. A lot of it." The sorceress glanced at the feed again. "She might be doing some sort of exercise to reduce it. It's going down, now."

"Can you tell why?"

"Not without a private questioning session. And, I doubt I'd be able to do it any time soon."

"Or ever," Cyborg commented. "The little lady doesn't seem like the type to hold a casual conversation."

"Well, perhaps," Starfire started. She released a loud 'eep!' as her gaze swept over the video feed.

The rest turned to see and Raven was the only one of the group not to flinch at what they saw. The room had been replaced by a close up of a single eye. The sclera was like an average humans, if not for the various silver colored striations running through it intertwining with the red veins. An unearthly blue light radiated from the eye's iris, highlighting the black abyss that was the pupil. And, just in the center of the pit was a tiny pinprick of red light, it blinked occasionally, flickering dimmer, then brighter erratically.

"You should really find a better hiding place for your recording devices," Cerebra's voice droned monotonously. "Not that it would have mattered much." The eye's lid drooped down slightly, giving it a slightly relaxed expression. "I know that you can hear me. Let me out of this room." The eye drew back slightly revealing the rest of the android's surly expression.

The titans didn't speak. Robin turned wide eyed to Cyborg who just shrugged in return, baffled. Beast Boy had turned into a cat and leapt on top of a cabinet at the sight of the eye, and was now back in human form, trying to crawl down without falling. Starfire glanced at Raven, Raven glanced back.

Robin reached for the microphone, but before he could press down on the button, the Titans' alert suddenly wailed to life.

Immediately, he turned and said "Trouble! Let's go!"

After a moment of receiving no response, Cerebra's scowling lips parted again, as if to make another demand, when she was interrupted by a blaring siren. An uncharacteristically undignified yelp escaped her and she jumped, losing her balance and toppled over backwards to the floor. She landed in a heap with a grunt, her legs, still tossed over the table she had been standing on.

"What the hell," she grumbled, rubbing the back of her skull.

The siren still screamed on, but now, she could hear a faint thumping and running moving down the hall just outside the room. The footsteps faded soon enough, yet the noise continued on.

She narrowed her eyes, "Unacceptable."

She pushed herself to her feet. Her irritation grew; she had gotten accustomed to doors opening and information being brought to her and _loud, irritating noises stopping _with a mere thought. This whole "walking and inconvenience" thing was a foreign concept.

Cerebra swept her gaze over the door. For all intents and purposes, it was an average door with a knob. It was locked, but instead of a keyhole there was a key pad. She needed a passcode.

Well, most humans would need a passcode. Cerebra just needed a connection. And, where there was a keypad, there were wires, and where there were wires, there was a connection. So, without a second thought, Cerebra began working to pry the pad off.

There were no visible screws or bolts holding it in place, so it took a minute, but after working with it, she managed to pry one of the numbers out, the zero key, and reveal the sensitive, vulnerable wires beneath. She smirked.

Cerebra grabbed a chair, placed it in front of the keypad. There would be no point in letting her body fall to the ground and cause unnecessary damage. The android sat down in the chair, reclining slightly, and reached out with her pointer finger. Tiny pinpricks of silver steel like the tips of needles, pushed out from beneath the skin of her fingertip, and grazed the exposed wiring of where the zero key used to be.

Cerebra felt the first pinpricks of discomfort, as was expected. She could feel her heart beat, slow her vision go dim, and her headache disappear as she uploaded a piece of her consciousness into the Titan's Tower mainframe.

She could see herself through the camera she'd found earlier, lying limp in the uncomfortable metal chair; her body was placed in an indefinite standby mode until her mind returned to it. As it stood now, she was a bundle data and electricity moving through a network, but if she had a face, she'd be scowling. Cerebra had always hated her physical form and the idea of having one in general. It was a weak, needy thing, despite its necessity.

She turned away from it. She had eighteen minutes to find out her information and return to her body before she started losing data and fading.

The door mechanism was simple enough. It wasn't protected by much of anything. She opened that first. It was best to secure an escape route first and then explore the way the needling childish voice was begging her to do. She found herself glad she couldn't hear what was going on inside the tower; she still hadn't found a way to cut that damned siren.

* * *

**a/n: yes. i know thats not how computer systems or mainframes work but just meet me half way here, yeah?**


End file.
